Classic Hits

In early 2020, Foreigner played a series of dates at in Las Vegas at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. It was supposed to be the first part of a two-part residency, but of course, those later shows never happened due to the pandemic.   Well, the band’s now making up for lost time.

Starting March 25, 2022, Foreigner will take over the venue with their show The Best of Foreigner 4 Live, celebrating the 40th anniversary of their biggest-selling album, 1981’s 4. 

Eight shows in all are going on sale: March 25, 26 and 30, and April 1, 2, 6, 8 and 9.  The general on-sale date is Friday, September 24 at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster and VenetianLasVegas.com, or by calling 866-641-7469. Foreigner fan club members and members of various loyalty programs will have access to pre-sales starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT.

The band’s Vegas shows in 2020 featured all the hits from 4, including “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Juke Box Hero” and “Urgent,” as well as some deep cuts like “Night Life” and “Girl on the Moon.”  Most of the band’s other hits — from “Cold as Ice” to “I Want to Know What Love Is” — were also on the set list.

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The efforts of some Van Halen fans to memorialize the late Eddie Van Halen in the band’s hometown of Pasadena, CA have succeeded.

Julie A. Gutierrez, assistant city manager of Pasadena, wrote in her weekly newsletter that a memorial plaque honoring the late guitarist has been approved for installation outside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where Van Halen played some of their earliest gigs. 

She noted that since Eddie’s death, Pasadena has received several “requests and suggestions” to memorialize him via naming a street, alley or other monument in his honor.  The plaque has gotten the city’s official endorsement, Gutierrez explained, and money raised by Pasadena 4 Van Halen, a GoFundMe started by fans, will fund the effort.  The plaque should be ready for installation some time around October 6, the anniversary of Eddie’s passing.

Pasadena 4 Van Halen’s GoFundMe had an initial goal of $3,000, but has since raised nearly $7,000 as of Monday morning.  The group is continuing to campaign for a new park in Pasadena to be named in honor of the guitarist. Voting on the name of the park is underway now and continues through September 24.

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Lindsey Buckingham is continuing to snipe at Stevie Nicks via the media, even after Nicks issued a rare rebuttal of his version of the events that led to him being fired from Fleetwood Mac.

In a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Buckingham claimed that Nicks demanded he be fired, and that Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie went along with it for financial reasons. Nicks in turn told the newspaper that Buckingham’s comments were “factually inaccurate.” But in a new interview with the Times of London, Buckingham is still blaming Nicks for his exit from the band.

“There were a number of years where I wasn’t over her,” says the guitarist. “It is possible that she has never been completely over me either.” 

He explains that he and Nicks have never “had time to heal or move on” from their breakup, adding, “We both had to compartmentalize our feelings. That is not a healthy thing to do because those little compartments can remain sealed up for years, until things start seeping out when you don’t realize.”

Buckingham also suggests that the fact that he’s a married dad and Stevie is single has something to do with it.

“It’s hard for me to know what her mentality is towards me, but I know what mine is to her because I’ve been married for 21 years and I have three children and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” he muses.

Buckingham further suggests that Stevie has “lost touch” with the creative part of herself.  And while Buckingham has been in touch with Fleetwood and McVie recently, his rejoining the band “would be down to Stevie having that epiphany herself,” he says.

“And hey, stranger things have happened,” he adds. “This is Fleetwood Mac. Anything is possible.”

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A new documentary focusing on the late Joe Cocker‘s famous 1970 Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour, as well as a star-studded 2015 Lockn’ Festival performance led by the Tedeschi Trucks Band that paid homage to the trek, will get its world premiere September 30 at the Woodstock Film Festival in Woodstock, New York.

The movie, titled Learning to Live Together: The Return of Mad Dogs & Englishmen, features archival footage of the original tour, scenes from the 2015 performance and interviews with musicians who participated in the trek, the tribute or both.

For the Lockn’ Festival performance, Derek Trucks, wife Susan Tedeschi and their band were joined by 12 of the original artists who were part of the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour, including Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge and Claudia Lennear, as well as such guest performers as The Black Crowes‘ Chris Robinson and ex-Traffic member Dave Mason.

The film features commentary from acclaimed music journalist David Fricke, and conversations with Trucks, Tedeschi, Robinson, Coolidge and many others, including the last interview with Russell, who died in 2016.

Learning to Live Together will get its North American theatrical release on October 22.

You can check out a trailer for the new documentary at Tedeschi Trucks Band’s official YouTube channel. In the preview, Fricke notes that the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour and its 1970 companion film “summarized what was possible, coming out of the ’60s — new community, new lessons in American soul, blues, R&B.”

Tedeschi and Trucks say of Learning to Live Together in a joint statement, “This film is a labor of love many years in the making, and we’re so proud to share the music and the stories of the men and women of Mad Dogs & Englishmen.”

For more info, visit MadDogsDoc.com.

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Former Journey frontman Steve Perry has donated a favorite classic car he owns to an auction to raise money for a charity affiliated with his hometown-area baseball team, the San Francisco Giants.

Perry’s silver 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450SL convertible is up for bid via Capital City Auto Auction, and the money raised by the sale will benefit the Giants Community Fund’s Junior Giants program.

The initiative provides free baseball and softball programs for over 20,000 children and teens in under-sourced communities. Junior Giants also works with local agencies, families and volunteers on various other community projects in the areas of education, health and violence prevention.

Perry’s car is painted silver with black leather interior. When he was in Journey, Steve used to drive the Mercedes to writing, recording and rehearsal sessions, and he has written many songs during his rides.

Along with the car, the top bidder will receive a custom-made red tuxedo jacket that Perry wore at many concert performances, and an autographed copy of his upcoming holiday album, The Season.

Proxy bidding for the vehicle is open now, and a live online auction will be held on Thursday, September 23, starting at 9 a.m. PT. As of Friday, the bidding stood at $27,050.

For more details, visit CapitalCityAutoAuction.com.

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When he’s not collaborating with seemingly every artist under the sun, Elton John is speaking out various topical issues, and one of them in particular really has him riled up.

Elton has been complaining for months that since “Brexit” — when the U.K. left the European Union — touring in Europe is now extremely difficult for British musicians, because they have to get special permits and visas, which are very costly.  Elton has taken part in hearings on the issue, but now, he’s decided to go straight to the top.

In the new episode of his Rocket Hour Apple Music show, Elton says he’s requested a meeting with British prime minister Boris Johnson, but admits, “I’ve yet to hear back from him.”

“I’m on the warpath to try to get this sorted out,” Elton declares. “What has happened is that it’s impossible for young artists financially to pay for visas, negotiate their way through all of the red tape that’s necessary for going to Europe. It’s financially impossible for them to do so.”

Recalling how important is was to him personally to get to perform in Germany at age 17, Elton says, “It’s so imperative for young artists to have that opportunity to do that. It makes them grow as songwriters, as artists, and as human beings. And it’s their right to be able to tour wherever they want to…so, at the moment they can’t, but we’re going to try and fix it.”

The legendary star continues, “I’m going to fight for this, and we’re going to continue to try and fight for this because it’s a desperate thing that’s holding young artists back,” adding, “It breaks my heart that these people are being held back by these ridiculous Brexit rules.”

The full episode will stream Saturday on Apple Music 1.

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Earth, Wind & Fire has returned to the top 10 of Billboard‘s Adult R&B Airplay chart for the first time in 28 years with their new single, “You Want My Love.”

The last time the legendary funk/soul/R&B group charted that high was just a few weeks after the Adult R&B Airplay chart debuted in 1993, when their hit “Sunday Morning” peaked at number 10.  Many of EWF’s best-known hits, such as “September, “Shining Star” and “Let’s Groove,” pre-date the Adult R&B Airplay list.

Additionally, the group — whose members include Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson — made it into the top 10 in just its fourth week on the chart, thus making “You Want My Love” only the fifth of 32 top-10 hits to do so in under a month.

“You Want My Love” is a reimagined version of Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1976 hit “Can’t Hide Love” that they recorded in collaboration with acclaimed producer Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and up-and-coming R&B singer/songwriter Lucky Daye. “Love” also gives Daye his second top-10, following his debut release, “Roll Some Mo,” a #8 hit in 2019.

Elsewhere, “You Want My Love” jumped from 31 to 24 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which measures audience totals across both adult-leaning and mainstream-oriented stations.

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This year marks the 45th anniversary of the release of KISS‘ classic fourth studio album, Destroyer.  To commemorate the milestone, the costumed rock legends will reissue the record on November 19 in multiple configurations, including a Super Deluxe box set featuring four CDs, a Blu-ray audio disc, a bevy of collectible items, and a 68-page hardcover book.

The first CD features a remastered version of the original album. Disc two boasts demos that Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons made of songs from the Destroyer era. The third CD includes various outtakes, alternate versions, single edits and more, most of which are previously unreleased. Disc four features an unreleased concert that KISS played at Paris’ L’Olympia theater in May 1976.

The Blu-ray offers up Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mixes of Destroyer, created by lauded studio whiz Steven Wilson, plus two bonus tracks.

The box set’s memorabilia include a replica KISS Army newsletter, plus posters, photos, an iron-on, stickers, trading cards, flyers, a replica Destroyer tour program and more.

Released in March 1976, Destroyer peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200, and became KISS’ most successful studio album, selling over two million copies. It features “Beth,” the band’s highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100.  The ballad, which was sung and co-written by drummer Peter Criss, peaked at #7. The album also includes the top-40 hit “Shout It Out Loud” and such other enduring songs as “Detroit Rock City,” “King of the Night Time World” and “God of Thunder.”

The Destroyer reissue, which you can pre-order now, also is available as a two-set set, as a double-LP package pressed on black or limited-edition colored vinyl, digitally, and via streaming.

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In August, it was announced that John Mellencamp would be serving as a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies this month, and now details have been revealed about the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s programming contributions to the network.

Mellencamp has curated two special nights of films that will be shown on TCM — airing tonight, September 17, and Friday, September 24. The heartland rocker will appear alongside TCM host Ben Mankiewicz to introduce the movies, which are some of his favorites.

For tonight, Mellencamp has chosen Tortilla Flat, Cool Hand Luke and The Misfits, and his picks for September 24 are The Fugitive Kind, On the Waterfront and East of Eden.

Back in July, the 69-year-old singer/songwriter lent his voice to a Turner Classic Movies interstitial segment called “From Hollywood to the Heartland” that looked at how small towns were portrayed in select vintage movies and featured him reflecting on his own experience growing in a small Indiana town.

Also, on August 27, Mellencamp’s new documentary The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 got its premiere on TCM’s YouTube channel, and you can still watch it on the website.

As previously reported, the film focuses on John’s 2000 trek of the same name, which featured a series of free, unannounced acoustic concerts held at public parks and on street corners in select major cities in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

The doc is narrated by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, and includes special contributions from Nora Guthrie, daughter of late folk legend Woody Guthrie.

A companion live album also was released the same day.

Meanwhile, Mellencamp is working with Turner Classic Movies on various other projects, including sponsoring his next tour.

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Thirty years ago today, September 17, Guns N’ Roses simultaneously released their third and fourth studio albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.

With the band riding high after the massive success of its 1987 debut, Appetite for Destruction, and its popular 1988 follow-up, G N’ R Lies, Use Your Illusion I and II debuted at #2 and #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Former GN’R drummer Matt Sorum, who joined the group just as they were starting to record the albums, tells ABC Audio that most of the band initially thought they were going to make a single record featuring 12 or 13 songs.

“We ended up recording 34, I believe,” Sorum recalls. “When we did that…[frontman] Axl [Rose] was the one that came in and said, ‘Let’s put it all out. I want to release it all.’ And we’re like, ‘What?!'”

Sorum says it also was Rose’s idea for the two albums to have identical covers, with the only difference being the color schemes — Use Your Illusion I is red and yellow and II is blue and purple.

Use Your Illusion I features two top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, “Don’t Cry” and “November Rain,” which reached #3 and #10, respectively. Use Your Illusion II includes one Hot 100 hit, “You Could Be Mine,” which peaked at #29.

Each album features a well-known cover song — Paul McCartney & Wings‘ “Live and Let Die” and Bob Dylan‘s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” appear on I and II, respectively. GN’R’s version of “Live and Let Die” peaked at #33 on the Hot 100.

The albums both have gone on to be certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA for amassing seven million sales units.

Here’s the Use Your Illusion I track list:

“Right Next Door to Hell”
“Dust N’ Bones”
“Live and Let Die”
“Don’t Cry” (Original)
“Perfect Crime”
“You Ain’t the First”
“Bad Obsession”
“Back Off Bitch”
“Double Talkin’ Jive”
“November Rain”
“The Garden” — featuring Alice Cooper
“Garden of Eden”
“Don’t Damn Me”
“Bad Apples”
“Dead Horse”
“Coma”

And here’s the Use Your Illusion II track list:

“Civil War”
“14 Years”
“Yesterdays”
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
“Get in the Ring”
“Shotgun Blues”
“Breakdown”
“Pretty Tied Up” (“The Perils of Rock n’ Roll Decadence”)
“Locomotive” (“Complicity”)
“So Fine”
“Estranged”
“You Could Be Mine”
“Don’t Cry” (Alternate Lyrics)
“My World”

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